Craig Lee, Nottinghamshire FA Football Development Officer explains “The goalkeeper in the photo is an adult over six feet tall. The idea is to show what a full grown adult would look like in goals that are of a similar proportion to that of full size goals and a young goalkeeper. Visually this really makes a clear statement – why do we expect our young players to defend goals that clearly are not relevant for their size and height? One memorable quote from a child during The FA’s consultation of The Youth Review process earlier this year was - how do they expect me to keep goal when even my dad needs steps to put up the nets on the goalposts!”

Earlier this year BBC’s Mike Bushell tried keeping goal in the up-scaled 32ft by 9ft goalposts, see how he faired here http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19609442

Craig continues “The FA Youth Review will be the most significant change to youth football since the implementation of mini-soccer, young players will be playing on smaller pitches, in smaller teams, with smaller goals and more ‘child friendly’ competitions.

From the 2013/14 season U7’s will be playing 5v5 and U11’s will be playing 9v9, and the changing formats will be phased in through to the 2015/16 season.

A number of clubs, leagues and Local Authorities in Nottinghamshire have already had financial support to purchase smaller goalposts, and pitch providers have been offered technical support with regards to redesigning pitch layouts and providing smaller pitches.

And this week we received the news that The FA are investing £8,100 into Nottinghamshire to support the development of volunteers in the teams that will be at the centre of The Youth Review implementation.

Of course there will be challenges along the way, a fear of change can be human nature, when mini-soccer was first introduced in the 1990’s people protested outside Lancaster Gate then the home of The FA, but mini-soccer is now clearly a huge success.

Many in Nottinghamshire see The Youth Review as a really positive change, and all of our youth leagues are fully behind these changes. The Young Elizabethan League, KicKStart League and Chad Mansfield Youth League are already offering 9v9 as an option this season hopefully making the transition smoother when it becomes mandatory, and the New Newark Youth League and Nottinghamshire Girls and Ladies League are already preparing for the 2013/14 implementation with support through Nottinghamshire FA Development Officers, so actually it is a really exciting time for youth football.”

There are 12 new videos and lots of useful documents to support the implementation of The Youth Review at http://www.thefa.com/my-football/player/youth-football/youth-development-review - The FA’s main video was filmed at Arnold Town FC with their young players!